Birthday's to share this week : 3rd - 9th July 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Toby Kebbell does on 9th July - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 34, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 3rd July 

• Tom Cruise - Born  1962, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
• Tom Stoppard - Born 1937, turns 79 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Patrick Wilson - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actor
• Connie Nielsen - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actress

Monday 4th July

• Eva Marie Saint - Born 1924, turns 92 - Actress
• Neil Simon - Born 1927, turns 89 - Writer | Producer  

Tuesday 5th July

• RZA (aka Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Director
• Edie Falco - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress  

Wednesday 6th July

• Eva Green - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actress
• Jennifer Saunders - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Singer
• 50 Cent (aka Curtis James Jackson III) - Born 1975, turns 41 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Writer | Producer
• Kevin Hart - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Geoffrey Rush - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Sylvester Stallone - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director 
• Ned Beatty - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor

Thursday 7th July

• Akiva Goldsman - Born 1962, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Ringo Starr - Born 1940, turns 76 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Producer | Director
• Shelley Duvall - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actress | Writer | Producer

Friday 8th July

• Anjelica Huston - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Kevin Bacon - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Wally Pfister - Born 1961, turns 55 - Cinematographer | Director | Cameraman
• Billy Crudup - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Singer
• Jaden Smith - Born 1998, turns 18 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter

Saturday 9th July

• Toby Kebbell - Born 1982, turns 34 - Actor
• Tom Hanks - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer
• Jimmy Smits - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Chris Cooper - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor 
• Richard Roundtree - Born 1942, turns 74 - Actor
• Brian Dennehy - Born 1938, turns 78 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Kelly McGillis - Born 1957, turns 59 - Actress | Producer

Tobias Alistair Patrick Kebbell was born in South Elmsall, Yorkshire, England, and grew up in Nottinghamshire. He was raised by his mother Michelle Mathers, a cook and landscape gardener after she divorced her husband and father of Toby, Robert Kebbell, an engineer, when the young lad was just eighteen months old. Toby is the fourth of five children. He attended a Catholic Primary School, and at fifteen dropped out of school, and two years later joined a Carlton Television Workshop and attended an 'over 16' audition which gave him the framework to launch an acting career.

He came to early prominence at age twenty when cast by Director and Writer, Shane Meadows, in the British psychological thriller 'Dead Man's Shoes', Co-Wriiten and also starring Paddy Considine. Whilst the film did little by way of commercial success, critically it was hit appearing on many 'Top Film' lists - not only for the year of its release (2004) - but for all time - 'Empire', 'Total Film' and 'Time Out' voting it so. The young Actor also picked up an award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards. This was followed up that same year with Oliver Stone's 'Alexander' alongside Anthony Hopkins, Jared Leto, Angelina Jolie, Colin Farrell and Val Kilmer, and then a year later in Woody Allen's 'Match Point' with Scarlett Johansson, Brian Cox and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

2006 brought horror film 'Wilderness' and then the critically lauded Anton Corbijn Directed biopic of Joy Division's frontman Ian Curtis, played by Sam Riley in 'Control'. Kebbell played Rob Gretton, the manager of the band, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the British Independent Film Awards.

In 2008 Guy Ritchie cast Kebbell as Johnny Quid in 'RocknRolla' alongside Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Thandie Newton. The next year saw 'Cheri' Directed by Stephen Frears with Michelle Pfeiffer.

The new decade saw 'Prince of Persia : Sands of Time' with Jake Gyllenhaal; 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' with Nicolas Cage, and 'The Conspirator' with James McAvoy, and Directed by Robert Redford. 'The Veteran' followed in 2011, as did Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse' with Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Marsan, David Thewlis and Emily Watson.

'Wrath of the Titans' with Sam Worthington came next, then 'The East', and then Ridley Scott's 'The Counsellor' with Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz. 2014 saw Kebbell venture down MoCap territory with his role as Koba in 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' - a scarred bonobo ape and lieutenant to Caesar as played by Andy Serkis in the first instalment of this rebooted franchise 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'.

2015 gave us Marvel's attempt at resurrecting 'Fantastic Four' with Kebbell starring as Victor von Doom/Doom alongside Miles Teller (Mr. Fantastic), Michael B. Jordan (The Human Torch), Jamie Bell (The Thing), and Kate Mara (The Invisible Woman). The film recovered its budget and then some, but was critically panned. Then came 'Buddha's Little Finger' and the recently released Duncan Jones fantasy action epic 'Warcraft : The Beginning', with Kebbell returning to MoCap again for his role as Durotan a nobel orc chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan. The film has so far made US$414M off its US$160M budget outlay, but has not fared so well with the critics.

Next up there is 'Gold' with Matthew McConaughey; Timur Bekmambetov's remake of the classic 'Ben Hur' and 'A Monster Calls' with Liam Neeson all due later in 2016. 'Kong : Skull Island' with Tom Hiddleston, John Goodman and Samuel L. Jackson is due in 2017, and then 'Category 5' with Ryan Kwanten as Directed by Rob Cohen. In the meantime Kebbell has starred in several short films, a couple of made of television movies, and television series 'The Street', 'Black Mirror' and 'The Escape Artist' as well as a number of theatre productions.

All up Kebbell has 38 Acting credits, he has one Award win and another four nominations. In 2009 he was linked to entrepreneur and founder/CEO of 'Peek.com' Ruzwana Bashir, but has since stated that he is in no hurry to marry. 

Toby Kebbell - quite possibly the most acclaimed, successful sought after Actor you have never heard of; right up there with Andy Serkis for their MoCap efforts and prowess; a Yorkshire lad done good and very much a star on the rise. Happy Birthday to you Toby, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 8th - 14th November 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Gerard Butler does on 13th November - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 46 at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 8th November

• Michael Nyqvist - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Richard Curtis - Born 1956, turns 59 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Gordon Ramsey - Born 1966, turns 49 - Celebrity Chef | Restauranteur | Television Personality
• Tara Reid - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actress | Producer
• Parker Posey - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actress

Monday 9th November

• Tony Slattery - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Writer

Tuesday 10th November

• Taron Egerton - Born 1989, turns 26 - Actor
• Walton Goggins - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer
• Hugh Bonneville - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor
• Roland Emmerich - Born 1955, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Ennio Morricone - Born 1928, turns 87 - Composer | Singer | Songwriter

Wednesday 11th November

• Leonardo DiCaprio - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Stanley Tucci - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Scoot McNairy - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer
• Calista Flockhart - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actress
• Demi Moore - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actress | Producer

Thursday 12th November

• Anne Hathaway - Born 1982, turns 33 - Producer
• Radha Mitchell - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actress | Producer
• Ryan Gosling - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer

Friday 13th November

• Gerard Butler - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer
• Steve Zahn - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor
• Whoopi Goldberg - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Television Personality

Saturday 14th November

• Olga Kurylenko - Born 1979, turns 36 - Actress
• Josh Duhamel - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor
• Paul McGann - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor

Gerard James Butler was born in Paisley, Scotland to mother Margaret, and father Edward Butler, a book-keeper. He is the youngest of three children, and at six months old moved with the family unit to Quebec, Canada. Twelve months later he was back again with his mother, when his parents marriage collapsed. It would be another 14 year before he would see his father again. Butler attended St. Mirin's and St. Margaret's High School in Paisley where he became Head Boy and did well enough in his studies to secure a place at law school at the University of Glasgow. Whilst in his teens he also studied at the Scottish Youth Theatre. At 16 Butler junior was reunited with Butler senior and over the next few years they became quite close. At University he was elected President of the Law Society. At 22, Butler senior died of cancer. Before his last year of law school, Butler decamped to California spending the majority of the year at Venice Beach and mostly in a drunken stupor. Upon graduating he moved to Edinburgh and joined a practise as a trainee lawyer but the week before qualifying was fired for his unruly partying behaviour. At 25 he relocated himself to London to chase his dream of becoming famous when his potential law career slipped away.

Unable to secure any acting gigs initially he worked several jobs including waiting at table, in telemarketing and demonstrating toys at toy fairs. His first acting role came in the Steven Berkoff stage adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus' - given to him because he auditioned so well above the other Actors, despite his lack of any formal acting training or experience. He was now 27, and a year later scored the role of Renton in the stage play of 'Trainspotting'. His big screen debut came in 1997 with 'Mrs. Brown' playing Billy Connolly's younger brother and opposite Judy Dench.

He followed this up with a bit part in Bond's 'Tomorrow Never Dies', British horror offering 'Tale of the Mummy', then 'Fast Food', 'One More Kiss' and 'The Cherry Orchard' to see out the decade. At 30 Butler moved to L.A. where over the next few years would secure roles in 'Tomb Raider 2', 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Dracula 2000'.

Th early part of the new decade saw turns in a number of TV series including 'Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married', the mini-series 'Attila' and 'The Jury' over multiple episodes. He was cast in Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera' in 2004 because of his singing talent gained playing in a rock band during his University years. His performance was largely praised, despite the lacklustre reviews the film received. With 'Reign of Fire', 'Timeline' and 'Dear Frankie' in 2004, he followed these up with what many describe his breakout performance as King Leonidas in 2005's '300' as the role that really put him on the map.

The next few years saw 'P.S. I Love You', 'Nim's Island' with Jodie Foster, 'RocknRolla' for Guy Ritchie, 'The Ugly Truth', 'Gamer' and 'Law Abiding Citizen'.

2010 delivered for Butler the action comedy 'The Bounty Hunter' and then voice work on the successful animated feature 'How to Train Your Dragon' which he reprised again in 2014, and is set to do so once more in the third instalment slated for a 2018 release. Having starred in 'Coriolanus' at the start of his acting career on stage, he got the opportunity to do so again in the film adaptation by Director/Actor and Producer Ralph Fiennes.




This was followed up by 'Machine Gun Preacher' in 2011, and then in 2012 'Chasing Mavericks' and 'Playing for Keeps' with actioner 'Olympus Has Fallen' in 2013 - a role he is to reprise next year in 'London Has Fallen' with Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart again.





Next up there is 'Gods of Egypt' for Aussie Director Alex Proyas, 'Geostorm' for Dean Devlin, 'London Has Fallen' which are all in post-production with 'The Headhunter's Calling' currently filming, and 'How to Train Your Dragon 3' recently announced. Butler has 52 acting credits to his name, nine Production credits and six Soundtrack credits, and he is the recipient of two award wins and another twelve nominations.

Living between Glasgow and Los Angeles, Butler claims to be dry of alcohol consumption, and successfully cured himself of pain killer dependency in rehab, which he became addicted to following a surfing accident while shooting 'Chasing Mavericks'. He is the proud part owner of the Jamaican Tallawahs cricket team which he bought into in 2013, and he has actively supported 'Mary's Meals' since 2010 which sets up school feeding programmes in some of the worlds poorest areas.

Gerard Butler - deep gravelly Scottish voice, touted once to play James Bond after Pierce Brosnan, has a reputation as an all round nice guy, not formally trained in acting and almost qualified as a lawyer, and, he has maintained his six pack abs since 2005's '300' - good on ya, and Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 6th - 12th September 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Idris Elba does on 6th September - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 43 at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 6th September

• Idris Elba - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor | Producer 
• John Polson - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Director  
• Rosie Perez - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actress | Producer | Director

Monday 7th September

• Evan Rachel Wood - Born 1987, turns 28 - Actress
• Toby Jones - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor   
• Dario Argento - Born 1940, turns 75 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor   

Tuesday 8th September 

• Martin Freeman - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor 
• David Arquette - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director 

Wednesday 9th September

• Adam Sandler - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Hugh Grant - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor
• Michelle Williams - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actress

Thursday 10th September

• Guy Ritchie - Born 1968, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Coln Firth  - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Ryan Phillippe - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actor | Director | Wtiter 

Friday 11th September

• Brian De Palma - Born 1940, turns 75 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Harry Connick Jnr :- Actor | Singer | Songwrie
• Tony Gilroy - Born 1956, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer  

Saturday 12th September

• Hans Zimmer - Born 1957, turns 58 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer
• Ian Holm - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actor 
• Freddie Jones - Born 1927, turns 88 - Actor
• Linda Gray - Born in 1940, turns 75 - Actress | Director
• Rachel Ward - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actress | Director | Writer

Idrissa Akuna 'Idris' Elba was born in the London suburb of Hackney to mother Eve, a Ghanaian working a clerical job, and father Winston, from Sierra Leone and a Ford Motor Company factory worker. The young Elba was raised in East Ham and went to school in Canning Town where his interest in acting was first sparked. Reading the weekly publication 'The Stage'  which covers the entertainment industry, Elba responded to an advertisement, auditioned for a stage play and was successful and subsequently hooked up with his first Agent. In 1986 he also started DJ'ing to help out in his Uncle's business and a year later he started up his own DJ company. He left school in 1988 having secured a place at London's National Youth Music Theatre, and was able to secure regular work on the BBC 'Crimewatch' programme acting out murder reconstructions. At 19 he was working the nightclub scene as 'DJ Big Driis' but within a year was auditioning for television roles.

His career kicked off in television in 1994 with a string of TV series that saw out the rest of the decade starting with '2point4 Children', 'Space Precinct', 'Absolutely Fabulous', 'Bramwell', two episodes of 'The Bill', four episodes of the 'Ruth Rendell Mysteries', two episodes on 'The Governor', six on 'Insiders', seven on 'Family Affairs' and six on 'Ultraviolet' before his 1999 film debut on the French comedy 'Belle maman' with Catherine Deneuve. There was then twelve episodes of 'Dangerfield' that saw out the end of the decade.

From that time on he dipped into both film and television roles constantly having moved to New York City early on in the new decade. In 2001 there was a support role on 'Law and Order' before 'The Wire' which for Elba ran from 2002 until 2004 across 37 episodes. In the meantime there were movies 'Sorted' and 'Buffalo Soldiers' with Joaquín Phoenix and Ed Harris, with brief stints on 'CSI : Miami', 'Hack', 'Soul Food', 'Girlfriends' and 'Jonny Zero'.

From here films started to feature more regularly with the likes of 'The Gospel' in 2005, 'Daddy's Little Girls' in 2007, and horror thriller 'The Reaping' that same year with Hilary Swank. Later that year there was '28 Weeks Later' with Jeremy Renner and Robert Carlyle, 'American Gangster' for Director Ridley Scott and starring Denzel Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin and Russell Crowe, and then a complete change of pace in closing out a busy year with 'This Christmas' with Delroy Lindo.

2008 & '09 brought the 'Prom Night' remake, Guy Ritchie's London gangster flick 'RocknRolla' with Gerald Butler, Tom Hardy and Tom Wilkinson, 'The Human Contract' with Jason Clarke, 'The Unborn' with Gary Oldman, 'Obsessed' with Beyoncé Knowles before seven episodes on 'The Office' to wind up another decade.

2010 kicked off with 'Legacy : Black Ops', 'The Losers' with Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, 'The Takers' and Marvel's 'Thor' in 2011 with Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins. Of course Elba has reprised his role of Heimdall in 2013's 'Thor : The Dark World' and in 2015's 'Avengers : Age of Ultron'. 

In between there was the forgettable 'Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance', the more memorable  'Prometheus' for Ridley Scott once again, 'Pacific Rim' for Guillermo del Toro, and his star turn and Academy Award nominated role as Nelson Mandela in 'Mandela : Long Walk to Freedom'. 'No Good Deed', ' Second Coming' and 'The Gunman' with Sean Penn have been more recent.

During this time there has been four seasons of the BBC's highly acclaimed 'Luther' for which Elba was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for all four seasons and won the gong in 2012, as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. There is talk too of concluding the successful small screen series with a big screen feature length film.

Next up there is 'Beasts of No Nation', 'A Hundred Streets' and 'Bastille Day' in post-production, 'The Jungle Book' and 'Finding Dory' both filming for a 2016 release and to which Elba has lent his voice talents, 'Star Trek : Beyond' also filming and 'The Trap' due in 2017 and starring too Al Pacino, Benicio del Toro, and James Franco.

Amongst big and small screen acting gigs, Elba has carved out a respectable music career appearing in numerous music videos, recording his own work, DJ'ing and rapping his way around various other artists and guest appearances or doing his own thing.

All up Elba has 74 acting credits to his name, he won the Golden Globe for 'Luther' and has nine other award wins and 38 nominations. He was married first time around in 1999 to Hanne 'Kim' Nasgaard with whom he has a daughter Isan born in 2002, then Sonya Nicole Hamlin in 2006 for a brief time, and now he is hooked up with Naiyana Garth since 2013 with whom he has a young son, Winston, born in 2014.

Idris Elba - deep baritone voice; jobbing disc jockey; New York resident; works across all genres with a track record in Sci-Fi, Superhero fare, crime and horror; has been voted best dressed, most beautiful and sexiest man over the years so there is much to celebrate, and, it's your Birthday too - Happy Birthday Idris, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthdays to share this week : 7th - 13th September.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Do you share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Boy who celebrates on 10th September, Guy Ritchie, at the end of this feature.

Sunday 7th September

• Dario Argento - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Angie Everhart - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actress | Producer
• Michael Emerson - Born 1954, turns 60 - Actor
• Toby Jones - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actor
• Julie Kavnar - Born 1950, turns 64 - Actress

Monday 8th September

• Martin Freeman - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actor
• David Arquette - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actor | Director | Producer
• Pink - Born 1979, turns 35 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress

Tuesday 9th September

• Adam Sandler - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Michelle Williams - Born 1980, turns 34 - Actress
• Hugh Grant - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor
• Goran Visnjic - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor

Wednesday 10th September

• Colin Firth - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
• Ryan Phillippe - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actor | Director | Producer
• Guy Ritchie - Born 1968, turns 46 - Director | Writer | Producer
• Chris Columbus - Born 1958, turns 56 - Director | Writer | Producer

Thursday 11th September

• Harry Connick Jnr. - Born 1967, turns 47 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor
• Brian De Palma - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Tony Gilroy - Born 1956, turns 58 - Director | Producer | Writer

Friday 12th September

• Ian Holm - Born 1931, turns 83 - Actor
• Hans Zimmer - Born 1957, turns 57 - Composer | Songwriter
• Rachel Ward - Born 1957, turns 57 - Actress | Director
• Linda Gray - Born 1940, turns 74 - Actress

Saturday 13th September

• Jacqueline Bisset - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actress
• Richard Kiel - Born 1939, turns 75 - Actor
• Frank Marshall - Born 1946, turns 68 - Producer | Director

Guy Stuart Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. He decided that he wanted to make  films after seeing 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' as a child, and it seems that nothing would deter him from that career goal. He was expelled from Stanbridge Earls School at age 15 for alleged drug use and by 1995 had secured himself a job as a 'runner' on various film & TV sets - so effectively kick-starting his film career. He never attended film school but instead immersed himself in the world of film and television, and by the end of 1995 was already making music video's and television commercials.

From the money he made he wrote and Directed a 20 minute short film called 'The Hard Case' which was the pre-cursor to his debut feature in 1998 - 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' which was funded in part by Sting's wife, Trudy Styler. The film featured Sting in the cast and launched the careers of Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Jason Flemyng and Nick Moran to a worldwide audience.

The highly acclaimed and inventive 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' was followed up by 'Snatch' in 2000 - this time though with major studio backing and featuring Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro and a plot involving a rather large stolen diamond. Again, this film was hailed a critical success, and was quickly establishing Ritchie as a new Director with talent and to watch out for.

That same year, in 2000, Ritchie married Madonna whom he had been introduced to by Sting, and for the next few years he turned his attention to Directing her in various music video's and the 2002 remake  of the 1974 film of the same name 'Swept Away'. This more recent film was critically panned and a commercial flop! Suddenly Ritchie's shining rising star was beginning to become tarnished, and so he returned to what he knew best with Las Vegas style heist caper 'Revolver' in 2005 which ultimately also did him no favours critically despite its cast comprising of Ray Liotta, Jason Statham and Mark Strong.

His next turn in the Director's chair fared better - 2008's 'RocknRolla' starring Gerald Butler, Tom Hardy, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong and Idris Elba in another London based underworld crime caper involving vast sums of ill gotten cash and various unsavoury types wanting to get their hands on it one way or another! Intended to be the first in a trilogy, the follow up is still awaited and not likely to appear any time soon given Ritchie's forward diary of films slated.

Next, came two in a row for 2009 and 2011 with a reboot of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle much loved erstwhile character to the big screen with 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows' with Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law playing the Holmes and Watson characters respectively. With production budgets of US$90M and US$125M for each of the two films and very solid box office returns giving Ritchie his biggest commercial successes to date, it seems as though this Director's fortunes were once again on the up!

Ritchie's marriage to Madonna ended in 2008 with him being awarded a divorce settlement from her of somewhere between US$60-70M. They had two sons together - Rocco, and an adopted boy from Malawi, David. Subsequently he has been with Model, Jacqui Ainsley since 2010 and they now have three children together.

Currently Ritchie is in post-production with a reboot of the classic 1960's television series 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' due to hit our big screens for release in January 2015 and starring Henry Cavil as Napoleon Solo, Armie Hammer as Ilya Kuryakin and Hugh Grant as Waverly. Following on from this in 2016 will be 'Knights of the Roundtable : King Arthur'.

He has eight award wins to his name and eight other nominations including a BAFTA nomination for Best Film for 'Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels'. He continues to be active in writing his own screenplays, Producing and Directing and therefore retaining much of the control over his art. 

Guy Ritchie - known for your sharp dialogue; carefully interwoven plot threads; tough, gritty, sometimes dark underworld characters; and high speed camera work to add a sense of urgency or to ramp up the action, we can easily forgive 'Swept Away' if you stay focused on what you're best at and give us another ''Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' (which incidentally remains one of my favourite films!), 'Snatch', 'RocknRolla' or even 'Sherlock Holmes'! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-